See, the Name of Jesus was not enough. We have to ‘attract’ people with celebrity Christians.

It is a business, folks. It does NOT fit scripture at all. When Jesus put that little child on His lap in Matthew 18 He was taking the lowest of the low in society and saying, you must be like this. It was not a great marketing tactic to attract followers as children had no social standing at all in the 1st Century. If you don’t believe me, just read the Beatitudes and explain to me where all this celebrity and wealth fit into the Great Commission.

We don’t like to admit it, but Christians have totally bought into the celebrity world. The ‘Christian’ market niche is worth billions. Yep, there are only a few at the top but just look at Christian publishing. More people read Chrisitan books than read scripture! We stand in line to get books signed, try to meet the speakes after the conference or sermon just to get ‘around’ them.

The absolute biggest disappointment to me was to see SBC leaders with their “entourages”. I saw this all the time with politicians but Christians? I know that many mega church pastors have a ‘walker’. This is someone who ‘walks’ with the pastor around the conference or church so he does not get stuck talking with people. After all, his time is very valuable. The walker’s job is to pull them along and say, we have to go. That is their job so the ‘VIP’ does not look mean by not talking to them.

The problem is that after years of this, they start believing they really are ‘special’. So would all of us.

I began to suspect that many of these men/women should step down for their own sake.

It is a snare and a trap. Be thankful if you are not in it.

What on earth is a ‘Ravehill’ approach? Where has Ravenhill been unscriptural? This is not nice to write about this man unless you get specific so we can check it out.

Our celebrity culture in the church is disheartening. I recently recieved several notices in the mail about an upcoming conference. There was no mention of the topics, only the names of the speakers. Why would I care who is speaking? I want to know what topics they might be covering! Then I will know if it will be helpful to me and my ministry!

This is indicative of where we are in this celebrity christian sub-culture. And I hope we can change it to a culture of humility. That said, not every big-name speaker is proud. Some are humble and gracious. But the system itself needs changing for sure.

And may I say – why don’t we ask more IMB missionaries to speak at conferences? I would much rather hear their stories and insight than hear most speakers who get booked at SBC events.

I think we are on the same page, just reading it from two different directions.

Like I said, I’m not talking about preachers. I just despise the automatic bias that musicians should live on minimum wage while all the parishioners in a church work $60,000 to $100,000 a year jobs. If that makes me carnal, I’m sorry.

In Christ,
Bernard

This is, I suppose, chasing a bit of a rabbit … but not really … I have worked with many, many musicians in my days gone by. I know all about the expenses of touring, balance sheets, staff salaries, and such. I once ran a Christian “night club” for teen-agers. I booked big-name acts in the Christian music world for concerts and appearances every couple of months. There were many who asked for modest contractual guarantees. There were some who were way outside my price range. And then there were some I refused to bring (I drew a philosophical line) to “my house” when their twenty page rider required “real half & half” along with their gourmet coffee. (I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.)

And no one said anything about making “millions.”

I think David’s original question had much more to do with the local church, revivals, revival preachers, musicians, etc… There are some whose minimum requirements price the smaller local churches “out of the market,” even though they comprise the vast majority of our churches. Since old-fashioned revivals don’t fit into my church model, I don’t deal with any of this anymore. But I remember it from my previous staff days. I used the be the (low on the staff totem-pole) guy who had to escort the big preachers and buy their lunch at fancy restaurants and such. It goaded me then … still does now.

There is one very big name in SBC life (I won’t name the name …) whom I have heard preach three different times at three different geographical locations … and heard the same “sugar-stick” sermon every time. There is one well-know youth speaker I heard at four different conferences … and the same set of “sugar stick sermons” every time. And both were knocking down thousands of dollars in the process.

This is part of the Christian celebrity problem, I think … when we go to events because of the people on the program.

I guess you can just call it old-fashioned jealousy … the big “green-eyed monster.” I confess it as sin, before all who are here. But it just seems to me to be a profound injustice that the reward for recycling the same old sermons, and the same set list of songs, seems to far outweigh the living earned by men of God who toil week by week, rightly dividing the Word of truth, trying to bring a fresh message to their people … Sunday in, Sunday out.

But I don’t lose any sleep over it.

As for evangelists and traveling speakers, I don’t have much inside info. But I DO know what I’m talking about with musicians, trust me.

Maybe I’ll post some specifics on my blog if you guys don’t want to derail this. Doesn’t matter to me

Please note that I’m not meaning to be “hateful” about it, but David did ask “what we thought”.

Geoff is right in that fame in our culture may be a bit different, but I am not willing to acquiesce that it is all that different. People are people, and throngs amassed to hear great preachers of the 18th and 19th centuries. There celebrity was indeed widespread, and they most assuredly took advantage of it. Paul lauds the fame of one he sent on mission, so we ought to be careful about pointing the finger at a certain group of individuals in the SBC lest this turns into one more of those blogs we are all too familiar with.

Humility certainly needs more attention, but adopting a Ravenhill approach is dangerous and unfounded in Scripture.

I wouldn’t need any guarantees to preach your revival, brother!

And $7,000 sounds pretty spiffy to me. Bernard, I guess I’m a bit behind the times, too. That’s a couple of months of income for me, not three days worth.